This weekend, families and friends will gather to eat, drink and scream their heads off for what is arguably the largest unofficial American holiday – Super Bowl Sunday. Millions of viewers will tune in to see the Cardinals and the Steelers fight for the championship…and, as always, the highly-anticipated Super Bowl commercials.

Super Bowl Sunday is a unique opportunity for advertisers, in that not only are your ads being shown before a mass audience that spans several demographics, but these viewers actually want to see your ads. They’re waiting and anticipating the commercials. During that :30- or :60-second spot, you are the main event.

But in these tumultuous economic times, glitzy Super Bowl ads can seem like an unnecessary extravagance for some companies. Media buys around the game are down and costs are up. Long-time Super Bowl advertisers such as General Motors and FedEx are sitting this one out, and the pressure is on those companies that are advertising to maximize ROI on this year’s game-time spots.

To ensure these expensive buys pay-off, smart advertisers should not depend only on the eyes that are watching their ads, but also leverage this increased exposure in their online marketing efforts as well.

It’s a pretty standard practice to include a URL in Super Bowl ads, (although, surprisingly, there were still a few who didn’t last year). But how many of the advertisers will not only include a URL, but will tie in their search marketing efforts as well?

Will the creative in advertisers’ paid search ads this weekend and in the days following reflect the messaging in their commercials? Being in a recession, will we see more “call-to-action” ads that consumers can follow through on by going online?

According to a survey conducted by comScore following last year’s Super Bowl, 13% of respondents went online to watch a Super Bowl commercial again. Similarly, 13% of respondents visited an advertiser’s Web site following the Super Bowl. Given the unstable economy and downturn in consumer confidence, are advertisers this year launching special campaigns to direct users to their site or other online content to generate engagement? When they get there, will the sites include content directed at these searchers and take their attention away from the woes we’re facing for just a moment to get them to consider their brand?

Going beyond paid ads, what will advertisers be doing to increase their following on social media sites and in emerging media? YouTube seems to be a natural social media site for these advertisers because users can re-watch their favorite commercials and send them to friends. But what about social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace or other consumer-generated forums? Will advertisers attempt to increase their followers on these sites as part of their Super Bowl marketing?

This Sunday, I’m excited not only for the game and the commercials, but to see who the big winner is in the search space as well – anybody else?